With the English plenipotentiary, who had just superseded Mr. Stuart near the central junta, the general had been directed by the ministers to communicate upon all important points, and to receive with deference his opinion and advice. The present was an occasion to which those instructions were peculiarly applicable. Mr. Frere had come fresh from the English government, he was acquainted with its views, and he was in the most suitable position to ascertain what degree of elasticity the Spanish cause really possessed. The decision of the question belonged as much to him as to the general; it involved the whole policy of the English cabinet with respect to Spain. As a simple operation of war the proposed movement was rash; all the military and many political reasons called for a retreat upon Portugal, which would take the army back upon its own resources, ensure its concentration, increase its strength, protect British interests, and leave it free either to return to Spain if a favourable opportunity should occur, or to pass by sea to Andalusia, and commence the campaign in the south. Such were the reflections that induced sir John Moore to solicit Mr. Frere’s opinion upon the general policy of the proposed operation, but in so doing he never had the least intention of consulting him upon the mode of executing the military part, of which he conceived himself to be the best judge. While awaiting the reply, he directed sir David Baird, if the enemy showed no disposition to molest him, to push the troops on to Salamanca as fast as they should arrive at Astorga. Sir David was proceeding to do so, when Blake advised him that a considerable French force was collecting at Rio Seco and Ampudia with a view of interrupting the march. This arrested the movement, and Baird, after destroying some of his stores at Astorga, fell back to Villa Franca. As sir John Moore’s information led him to believe that Blake’s report was false, he recalled Baird; but valuable time was thus lost. It was the march of the fourth corps, then traversing the line from Carrion to the Guadarama, that gave rise to the contradictory intelligence. At this time, the various changes in the French positions, and the continual circulation of their light cavalry through the plains, bewildered the spies and the peasants. The force of the enemy on different points also confused the higher agents, who, believing the greatest amount of the invading army to be from a hundred to a hundred and twenty thousand men, could never reconcile the reports with this standard, and therefore concluded that Napoleon exaggerated his real numbers to create terror. [Sidenote: Appendix, No. 14.]